


that boy is a monster

by fulmiinata



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, Happy halloween, Horror, Kink Meme, basically everyone kills each other, i swear i hate none of the characters though every death was necessary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-01
Updated: 2013-11-01
Packaged: 2017-12-31 03:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1026790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fulmiinata/pseuds/fulmiinata
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The scariest monsters are not the one hiding under your bed, but the ones hiding under your skin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	that boy is a monster

**Author's Note:**

> For [this](http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/1985.html?thread=1866945#cmt1866945) prompt.

They were foolish, those swimmers. Didn’t they know that those ‘horror stories’  that their friends told around the dim campfire were based on truth? _Lake demon. Drowning ‘accidents’._

Haru ducked down below the murky waters, his gills opening in relief at the cool water flowing through them. His eyes, casting a faint yellow light across the lake bottom, scanned over the rocks for something to quell his raging hunger. The bones, picked clean and caked with algae, disappointed him, causing a frown to pull at his slimy lips.

Another delightful cry returned his attention to the teenagers jumping off the dock, not 100 yards away. Blue flashed across his eyes at the sight, his stomach once again shuddering with hunger. It had been almost a week since he last fed, and it was taking a toll on him.

They would miss him, that blonde one. He was the one who had initiated the entire idea of swimming late at night, where no one would see them. His laughter was bubbly and loud. Surely, if Haru were to shoot his hand out of the water and grab the boy’s leg, dragging him down to the depths of the lake, the others would follow. They would jump in after him, screaming “Nagisa! Nagisa!”, becoming the perfect prey.

The tallest one, his hair brown and his eyes green, would be the most difficult to kill. Even in the dark night, illuminated only by the yellow crescent moon, Haru could make out a strong, broad figure lined with muscles. It didn’t particularly matter; no matter how strong you were, Haru was always stronger. Besides, muscles made for good eating -- sweet and full of protein.

There were two redheads, a boy and a girl. They looked like siblings. It was almost too perfect if they were -- the girl, she was small and petite, wouldn’t put up much of a fight. She probably wouldn’t go quietly, but that was alright. If she didn’t, the boy would immediately be alerted, and would join her on Haru’s metaphorical dinner plate.

But what that one, with blue hair and glasses? He didn’t look like he was enjoying himself too much -- rather, he was fussing over the enjoyment of the bubbly blonde, chiding him to not be so reckless, that if he wasn’t careful someone could get hurt.

 _Be as careful as you want,_ Haru mused, sliding through the water. It was black as the night, oily and thick like sludge. _It won’t save you._

Slowly, quietly, Haru closed the distance between him and his food. He peeked just above the water, and waited.

“Hey guys, watch this!” Nagisa’s feet padded across the old dock as he ran. He leapt into the air, flipping once, before landing in the water headfirst.

Haru shot forward. In the blink of an eye, he was right under Nagisa, grinning sadistically. He grabbed a fistful of hair and swam downward. The blond kicked and thrashed about, his mouth open in a silent scream. Bubbles spurted from his mouth, dissipating and decreasing in number with every meter Haru and Nagisa descended below the surface.

The bottom was where Haru preferred to feed, where he wouldn’t be disturbed. He looked over at Nagisa, who hung limply from his grasp.

The flesh was soft and tender in his mouth, ripping off easily. Blood blossomed into the murky lake water around them and Haru drank in its sweet taste.

They would miss him, that blonde one.

* * *

 

 

 

_i’m goin g o f f_

_th e de ep e nd_

 

There were twelve tally marks on the part of Makoto’s wall hidden by his bed -- one for each year he and Haru have been friends, and one for each person he’s killed. They all deserved it, because each one of them hurt Haru, his Haru in some way and it was Makoto’s duty to make sure nothing bad ever happened to him.

The first one: ‘fell’ off a cliff -- nobody pushed Haru without an apology.

The second one: ‘drowned’ in the ocean -- poor thing never learned how to keep his mouth shut and not gossip.

The third one: didn’t ‘look both ways’ before crossing the street and walking right in front of a truck -- too bad, if only he’d done his own work instead of taking credit for someone else’s.

The seventh: stabbed by a ‘mugger’ -- funny, how stealing things led to your own things being ‘stolen’.

The tenth: Makoto was just as surprised as everyone else to find out that yes, you could in fact ‘choke’ on a blue ice pop. That tends to happen when you’re hungry and eat someone’s stolen lunch too fast.

The eleventh: what was he thinking, walking around the woods alone at night? Such things could lead to ‘animal attacks’.

 

_i h ea r  v oic e s_

_in m y he a d_

This was it. This was going to be his year; the year that Makoto evened up the tallies and the year he confessed to Haru. But first, he would have to deal with a very stubborn obstacle.

From the very beginning, Rin was able to elicit a reaction from Haru that Makoto just couldn’t get, no matter how hard he tried. He was able to steal Haru’s attention and hold it for himself for as long as he wanted, leaving nothing but scraps for the rest of them.

Well, no matter. The best way to rid yourself of a pest? Exterminate them.

 

 

_i ‘ve    got a ve ry speci alset of fri ends_

“Hello, Rin?”

_“Makoto? It’s really late--is something wrong? Did something happen?”_

“No,” Makoto’s grip on his cellphone tightened. He stretched out a bit on the park bench, his form nothing but a shadow in the dark. “I was just wondering if we could meet up. At the park.”

 _“Right now? Mako, it’s almost eleven-thirty.”_ Rin sounded confused, and if the yawn that came from his end of the line was anything to go by, he was also tired. _“Can it wait until tomorrow?”_

A very slow grin spread across Makoto’s lips. There was a tapping of wood against wood. “Actually, it can’t. I really need to see you, Rin.”

 _“Oh._ Oh. _Okay, well I guess I can be there in ten minutes. Where are you at?”_

“Near the swingset. I’ll look for you.”

 _“Kay. Be right there.”_ A click signaled the end of the call.

As promised, at eleven thirty-seven Rin arrived at the park, hands shoved in his jacket pockets and his baseball cap pulled low. Curfew was two hours ago, and if anyone were identify him as a Samezuka student he would most definitely get in trouble. He wandered over to where the lonely swings sat, swaying almost imperceptibly in the faint breeze.

He was alone in the dark, accompanied only by the swings and the lonely creaks they made. Heart pounding in his chest, Rin looked around for Makoto.

“Mako,” he called out, involuntarily shuddering in the cold breeze.

There was no answer.

The swing came before Rin could ever anticipate it. There was a sickening crack as the wood of the baseball bat made contact with his spine, knocking the wind from his lungs and sending him to his knees. Tears peppered his gaze as Rin tried to get up, but he was met with another hit to the skull. He saw stars, tumbling back into the dirt with the worst pain he had ever felt in his life.

The bat struck again and again, each time with more force than the last, enough to break his bones into nothing but shards.

Rin didn’t try to get up again.

Makoto looked at his handiwork with a sickness settling into his belly. Rin used to be his friend, a good one, and here he was lying on the ground in front of him covered in bruises and beaten almost beyond recognition. But.

“Sorry Rin. You got in the way.”

  


 

_m  aybe i’m ju st a lit tl e bit_

_c r a z y_

 

There were twelve tally marks on the part of Makoto’s wall hidden by his bed -- one for each year he and Haru have been friends, and one for each person he’s killed. They all deserved it, because each one of them hurt Haru, his Haru in some way and it was Makoto’s duty to make sure nothing bad ever happened to him.

The first one: ‘fell’ off a cliff -- nobody pushed Haru without an apology.

The second one: ‘drowned’ in the ocean -- poor thing never learned how to keep his mouth shut and not gossip.

The third one: didn’t ‘look both ways’ before crossing the street and walking right in front of a truck -- too bad, if only he’d done his own work instead of taking credit for someone else’s.

The seventh: stabbed by a ‘mugger’ -- funny, how stealing things led to your own things being ‘stolen’.

The tenth: Makoto was just as surprised as everyone else to find out that yes, you could in fact ‘choke’ on a blue ice pop. That tends to happen when you’re hungry and eat someone’s stolen lunch too fast.

The eleventh: what was he thinking, walking around the woods alone at night? Such things could lead to ‘animal attacks’.

The twelfth: well, who knows where he ‘disappeared’ to? How unfortunate -- he was a promising swimmer for Samezuka.

 

* * *

 

  
Rin’s funeral was on a Tuesday. Exactly three Tuesdays, Gou remembered, after his death on a Sunday. Drowned at sea, they told her. The waves were too high, the waters too rough and the wind too strong, but Rin was too stubborn to leave. He insisted on swimming that day. There was a wave that was particularly big and powerful, that swallowed him up whole and dragged him down to the depths of nothing, never to be seen again.

Rin’s grave was empty, his coffin void of corpse, because Rin’s body was never found.

Rin visited Gou on a Friday night, exactly five Friday nights, she remembered, after his death on a Sunday. She didn’t believe it, thinking that her grief had finally gotten the best of her and led her to hallucinate because no she was not over it she hadn’t moved on and the death of her brother was in fact all kinds of devastating. But no, there he was, in the flesh, standing in her doorway with a smile on his face the likes of which Gou hadn’t seen since they were kids.

He was dripping wet, absolutely sopping, and wearing black, red-striped legskins and a black track jacket -- the very same clothes he had with him on the day he died.

“O-Oniichan?” Gou couldn’t think of anything else to say, because her brother was here, right in front of her, alive and breathing when not two months ago she had received a call at work saying her brother had drowned. It was impossible, she thought, unless Rin hadn’t really drowned but simply been dragged under. But then, how come he hadn’t contacted her earlier? Her address definitely hadn’t changed, nor had her phone number, so couldn’t he have found her?

Oh, well. All that mattered was that he was here, right in front of her, alive and breathing.

Gou slipped her arms around Rin’s neck, bringing him in close. The smell of salt from the sea was still on him, like he’d been hanging out at the beach all day, and water dripped from his hair onto her face. “You’re here... and, you’re soaking wet. You must be cold Oniichan, come on in. I’ll bring you a towel.” she said, pulling away and opening the front door wider. A puddle of water had collected from under Rin’s feet, and trailed behind him as he stepped inside.

With a fluffy red towel in her hand Gou returned, rubbing her brother’s head with it vigorously. Immediately the towel itself became wet, and a ton of water was still left in Rin’s hair. It dripped all over the place and showed no signs of drying up anytime soon, like someone was just continuously pouring buckets of water over Rin.

“This is strange... do you need me to bring a blow dryer, Oniichan?” The towel was heavy in Gou’s hand.

Rin’s lips spread into a small grin, but he didn’t say anything.

Taking that as yes, however, Gou went to her room and grabbed her purple hair dryer, plugging into an outlet near the lamp that sat next to her couch. She switched it on, the loud noise coating the atmosphere as it blew hot air into Rin’s hair.

Water still dripped everywhere.

“Oniichan, what’s going on? I can’t dry you off at all.” pouted Gou, turning off the dryer. She leaned slightly over her brother’s shoulder to look at his face.

Rin turned to face her as well, his grin spreading wider but still not replying.

In an effort to make light of the situation, the girl attempted to make a joke. “You know Oniichan, Mom used to tell us stories about ocean sprites that would take the form of humans who had died at sea--”

Rin’s grin widened further.

“And play tricks on their families! Sometimes they would lead grieving wives into the ocean, who cried out for their loved ones and followed them out until they... met their... deaths...”

His grin became a smile that was too wide, too huge, inhumanly so, that revealed the sharp points of teeth that Gou knew her brother didn’t have before the accident.

Rin lunged.

 

* * *

 

“Love’s a funny thing, isn’t it?”

Makoto jumped at the strange voice, nearly knocking the books out of his lap. He looked around the park, and saw no one else except for a young blonde sitting next to him on the bench. “What--what are you talking about?” he sputtered, his breath quickening.

The blonde draped one of his arms around Makoto’s shoulders. It was surprisingly muscular, for someone so much smaller than himself. “That guy who just left. Skinny, black hair? You really like him, don’t you? Maybe even love him.” A large, friendly smile presented itself on his face.

“I... I don’t... l-love Haru.” Makoto’s face became tinged with red.

“What would you say if I told you that I could make your friend Haru-chan return those feelings? All you have to do,” he snapped his fingers, and a scroll appeared in a poof of pink smoke. “is sign this.”

It unfurled, and written across the top in curly bold print was **_Nagisa’s Ultimate Love Contract!_**. It continued to unroll itself, extending all the way to the ground and then some. Every inch of it was covered in very small letters, so small that Makoto couldn’t even read them.

“Ah, sorry. Let me give you the short and sweet version.” the blonde, who Makoto presumed to be Nagisa, snapped his fingers again, the scroll snapping closed and then opening once more, this time about the length of a single sheet of printer paper, and still written with the minute type.  

Makoto squinted his eyes and leaned in closer, before remembering to put on his reading glasses. He read the top line.

This contract confirms that you agree to the Terms & Conditions set by Nagisa-sama in exchange for the love of your life. Please allow 5-7 business days for full delivery of promise. Results may vary.

“All you have to do is say yes!” said Nagisa in a sing-song voice, waving the contract in his face with a wink.

Green eyes shifted between the scroll and Nagisa. If he said yes, then Makoto’s greatest wish would be granted, his greatest desire filled. He could have Haru with him, in love with him and they would be happy together. If he said no, then he would have to be content with reciting his confessions to Haru in his mind, never to be said out loud.

The choice was instantaneous, the “yes” had flown out of his mouth like an eager baby bird, and before he could even think Nagisa’s hand shot out and grabbed his, pricking it with a sharp needle and pressing it to the scroll. Next to the drop of blood appeared his name: Tachibana Makoto. Interesting, it was in his own handwriting too.

“There! Easy as that, and almost no strings attached!”

“Almost no strings attached?” Makoto echoed, his brows furrowing in confusion.

Nagisa opened his mouth to speak, but a beeping noise cut him off from saying anything. He reached into the back pocket of his khaki shorts and pulled out a smart phone. “Whoops, gotta go. Looks like someone is having a bit trouble with our agreement.” He winked again, pointing a finger gun at Makoto. “Listen Mako-chan, I’ll be back in a week to check up on our little deal, okay? See ya~”

And he disappeared, leaving Makoto by himself, on a park bench, like nothing happened at all.

 

 

  
_Love is a_ **two-way street**

 

Nothing really changed, Makoto noticed. Haru didn’t act any different towards him, any more loving. Instead they continued on with their normal lives -- Haru waking up to soak in the tub, Makoto coming to pull him out, them going to school, them doing homework. It was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary.

But then, slowly and surely, the change started. Sometimes, when Makoto and Haruka walked home from school together, their hands brushed, and their little fingers would link. Sometimes, when they were studying, Makoto would look up randomly, just in time to see Haru look away, pink dusted across his cheekbones.

There was a very heavy feeling in Makoto’s chest, though, and no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. It felt sweet, especially with Haru around, but bitter when it was just him alone. It didn’t lighten up with Haruka, instead only growing heavier with each moment they spent together.

It was on the fifth day after signing the contract, a rainy summer afternoon that permeated the earth and refreshed the flowers after such a constant dry spell, that Makoto finally spilled his feeling out to Haruka. He didn’t tell him about the deal with that strange Nagisa, but he told him about everything in between -- the pounding of his heart whenever Haruka caught his gaze, the warmth of his body at the thought of him. They were sitting close to each other on the couch, both facing forward, when Makoto finally said, “I love you, Haru.”

Haruka didn’t say “I love you” back.

 

 

  
_Love is a_ **two-way street**

On the seventh day, Nagisa returned as promised. He popped into Makoto’s room in the middle of the night, where the boy was lying on his bed, gasping and clutching at his chest. There were wet spots on his pillow from tears, and he shook violently although the night was muggy and hot.

“Uh oh,” Nagisa tsked, crossing his arms and shaking his blond head. “I guess someone else is having trouble with our deal as well.” He floated over to Makoto’s bed, using the back of his hand to feel his forehead.

“It... it hurts,” croaked Makoto after a particularly sharp inhale of breath.

“Guess someone didn’t read the fine print.” Nagia smirked devilishly, his features contorting from cherub-like to sinister and almost cruel. “Let me refresh your memory, yeah?” Again with a snap of his fingers the scroll appeared, then lengthy version. The blonde scanned over it quickly, then placed a finger on the section he was looking for. “Love is a two-way street, my friend. The fine print says that if the words ‘I love you’ don’t leave the object of your affections’ mouth within a week, then, well, you’re dunzo. You can’t force something that isn’t there, especially something like love. And you see, making little deals like this with humans like you costs me a lot of energy. The only way I can really get that energy back is through a certain someone’s heart. Do you know what that means?”

Makoto shook his head no, the hand that gripped the front of his shirt tightening. His breath rattled in his throat. Nagisa’s hand then replaced his, on the left side of his chest, right over his heart. Nails dug into his skin.

“It means that this becomes mine.” His hand plunged deep into Makoto’s chest, fingers closing around the still-beating heart. Makoto screamed, but his cries were soon silenced by the blood that pooled in his mouth and trailed onto his chin.

Nagisa smiled cheerfully at the teenage brunette, who lay motionless on the bed in a pool of blood. He looked at the heart, red and swollen and large, blood seeping through his fingers. What a pure heart, he thought, it was definitely worth the trick.

 

* * *

 

Haruka-senpai was already so beautiful, that Rei found it truly difficult to make him even more lovely. All the more reason to take his time, to formulate the perfect equations for maximum efficiency, he figured, as he ran the pad of thumb down the knife’s blade. It was razor sharp, and a thin line split his skin, a single drop of blood spilling onto the floor.

Rei’s reflection in the shiny steel of the knife caught his eye, and behind it he saw Haruka-senpai, bound and gagged against the wall. Dark silky hair shadowed his eyes, chin resting on his chest. The tranquilizer wouldn’t last for much longer, if Rei’s calculations were correct. He would have to make this quick.

With swift movements Rei approached Haru, threading his fingers between his bangs and pushing his head up, to get a better look at the teenager’s face. _So beautiful._ His skin was smooth, free of blemishes, his features symmetrical and proportionate. Haruka-senpai really was the most beautiful where numbers were involved -- Rei knew that his eyes were the perfect width apart and the perfect size for his face, his nose right in the center.

Of course, not matter how close Haruka-senpai was to perfect, there was always room for improvement.

Rei placed the tip of the knife at the corner of Haru’s mouth. It was a bit too small, and he needed to widen it until it was the absolute perfect size. A single clean swipe, and suddenly Haru’s mouth stretched almost until his ear. Blood trickled out until it covered his entire jaw and Rei repeated the step on the other side. Symmetry was one of the keys of beauty.

Haru suddenly sucked in a breath, his long lashes fluttering against his cheeks. A brief flash of sparkling blue made Rei’s breath hitch. Haruka-senpai really had the most beautiful eyes, didn’t he? Rei wanted to keep them to himself, as an example of perfect specimens.

He pulled a spoon out of his tool belt, sticking it into the hollow of Haru’s eye. He made a scooping motion, popping the orb out of the socket, but those pesky nerves kept it from dropping into his hand. With a bit more work it fell out cleanly, warm and wet in his hand. It felt a bit slimy and rolled around in Rei’s palm -- he never realized just how large eyeballs really were.

The screams erupting from Haruka-senpai -- damn, those tranquilizers wore off too quickly -- fell on deaf ears, as Rei opened a jar and placed the eye inside, its brilliant blue iris now dull. He turned his own purple orbs back to the raven, smiling at how beautiful he really was now, even with his newfound imperfections.

 

**Author's Note:**

> damn wow what is this it was supposed to be way shorter
> 
> rei's part though damn was that hard
> 
> sorry this wasn't scary or even remotely creepy everyone is just messed up and a murderer 
> 
> happy halloween! hope you had fun!


End file.
